Lawmaker grills Facebook CEO on why Donald Trump Jr. had his account locked — on Twitter
Four of the world's biggest tech CEOs faced a congressional grilling on Wednesday, but let's just say some lawmakers' questions could have used some work.
During the hearing, the heads of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google were questioned by members of Congress who have been conducting an antitrust probe. One notable tech CEO who was missing was Twitter's Jack Dorsey. Still, Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) may not have gotten the memo about his absence, at one point posing an entire question to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that only made sense to ask the Twitter boss.
Specifically, Sensenbrenner wanted to know why Donald Trump Jr. recently was locked out of his account for sharing a video containing COVID-19 misinformation related to hydroxychloroquine. But Trump Jr.'s account was locked on Twitter, not on Facebook, as Zuckerberg politely reminded the GOP lawmaker.
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"Congressman, well first, to be clear, I think what you might be referring to happened on Twitter," Zuckerberg said. "So it's hard for me to speak to that. But I can talk to our policies about this."
After Sensenbrenner's question, CNN's Oliver Darcy wrote that it's "embarrassing and maddening that a member of Congress would apparently do so little prep before questioning one of the most powerful people on Earth."
Other high (or, rather, low) points of the hearing included one lawmaker demanding the head of Google explain why "my parents, who have a Gmail account, aren't getting my campaign emails," and the hearing itself briefly coming to a halt due to technical difficulties. Brendan Morrow
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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
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